well my stereo wont work. doesnt turn on, screen and functions work.
DSP was unavailable. disconnected battery, reconnected and its DSP came back up. no codes or anything. but the headunit wont turn on.
the battery shows to have 12.24 volts. alternator charges at 13.6.
this is a horrible time for things to go out. anyone thing the battery might have an issue. i'll have it check for amperage output tomorrow.
also, volume control on the steering wheel doesnt work along with the cruise control. i'd think its tied in somehow.
could a battery not giving enough power or amperage cause all these little problems. i know others have had similar problems with the battery when its not up to par. ugh!
thats about all i've checked. was working fine, but i think my aftermarket amp may have screwd the battery. hopefully it holds a chage and starts tomorrow. i have a spare battery if need be just in case.
anyone experienced this same situation? i do have a 600 watt amp hooked up, might need a better battery?
BTW. Tested the stereo/ display fuse circuit under the hood. Was getting roughly 6 volts. Hmm
well i'm coming to the conclusion the DSP amp went out. crap. that really makes sense. i hope not.
anyone have some imput on a similar situation? this is the one behind the nav unit right? in the case it is the DSP amp. guessing that functions the whole stereo system.
i'm agregaved because it went out with passengers in my car. i still havent ruled out the battery, so i'll check tomorrow. if its the amp i hope its easy to change out. i dont really care what it costs or anything. i just want it working.
totally love the car when everything works. but you have to expect crap like this being its electronics in a 9 year old car. oh well.
looked into the amp today. $1400 for a brand new one.
i took the amp out of the trunk along with the nav unit and other bits. the amp's power wire gets power, but the remote turn on wire has nothing going to it, no power.
now for things that arent working now. the volume control on the wheel doesnt work. the cruise control isnt working. the ventilation button doesnt work. and the horn dose not work. all of this after the stereo suddenly shut off. are they all tied into each other?
i can take it to the dealership and pay $110 per hour for diagnosis, most that i can do myself. i'm more than sure someone else has run into this. any help please?
CODE is shown in white with the key in the 1st posistion
CODE is shown in grey when the key turned to 2nd position or starting position
i figured usually when you need to enter a code, this would be after the battery had been disconnected. but i've disconnected it a few times already and the stereo worked fine everytime.
and as you can see the DSP is missing from the screen.
it is strange that the stereo quit working, then the steering wheel buttons including the horn are no longer oporable. anyone think this might be something else? like the ignition switch? maybe a relay? i think i'm taking it into the dealership in the morning though. i'm really not liking no music.
again like i said, everything else functions fine including the navigation.
Let's start with what I can think of. My driver seat power switch that controls the tilt steering was loose at the connector. That's working now. No problems with the buttons on the steering wheel at that time.
Now the stereo will not come on, shows CODE on the screen. Nav and board computer function. CD player is getting power. None of the buttons or horn on the steering wheel function. Buttona also aren't lighting up with the headlights switched on.
My second guesses here are the power ring thing under the steering wheel is defective. Or possibly the ignition switch. But I don't see why the stereo would cease to turn on, unless the ignition switch sends a power signal to the amp/stereo unit
Looks like nobody has any knowledge about this. So probably will be taking to one of four shops here in town. I want to avoid the dealership if possible. And I do know of three places that work on exotic and foreign cars that don't cost so much.
Ok so today my MAF meter is giving me trouble. The code reader said it wasn't getting enough voltage.
Alternator was putting out about 13.6 volts, 46 amps at idle.
Now when I bought the car they put a small battery in, rated at 540 cca. Going by what my E38 calls for, it should use a battery with 950 cca. Hmm, that might be a problem eh?
I drove the car around the freeway, then at slower speeds. Also stop and go without the car turning off because of the MAF. I have a feeling the battery could be partly to blame.
I may just get a new battery, $210 at the dealership which was about the same as I'd pay through my company. I just don't know what kind of, if any, warranty BMW batteries have.
Im going to see Tuesday if I can take it in and get it checked. I don't like putting with these glitches.
It is possible that just by coincidence, you MAF is going out at the same time as this other issue. Mine runs at around 13.9v while running, but I have an older model that doesn't have as many electronic systems getting energy from the battery.
Like you said, it is possible that the amp also provides power for other systems that don't work now that the amp went out. Since the amp is different than the one that should have been in the car, it is possible that someone else also had an issue with this earlier, and swapped in a different amp. These are just guesses though as I have no idea what the problem is. In any case, switching to a battery with more than 540 cca is probably a good idea. For less than $210 you could also look at an optima dry cell.
So today I start the car and the stereo turns on. Stayed on till I arrived at work. Didnt come back on when i left for lunch though. But still no steering wheel buttons working. Was giving me a slightly rough idle, wouldn't be noticeable to most people. But I noticed.
I remember recently a lady with a newish Range Rover HSE came in having similar problems. Was the battery too.
As fas ar battery choice, im gonna research and compare what I can get. Im not a huge fan of optima, I do sell them and have had them. They are just more of a pain to recharge when they need it. But again will do my research. And apparently I don't have to "register" the battery for my '01 E38?
Just got out of work. Looked and researched my options on a new battery. I've decided a 49 series AGM, I think it had 850 cca.
Currently I took the battery out of the car and it's now charging. I noticed it wasn't holding a charge as well as it should. I should know shortly it's condition. Hopefully that's all it is.
I also cleaned up all the power and ground connections in the trunk that connect to the battery. Cables tested out good with hardley any resistance if any, so that's good.
ok, done testing. the battery is "ok", still in sufficient for the E38.
on a side note, i do notice the lights brighten and dim while the car is on. hopefully not a faulty alternator. although it is pushing 13.8 volts and 47 amps when i tested it now at idle.
here's another thing, if i turn the ac compressor off, the car dies unless i keep it at the idle it should be when the compressor is running. thats weird.
while pushing the horn button i get nothing. but there is a red light on the dash, i believe it to be to tell me that the passenger or even driver air bag is inactive. it dims when i push the horn button. still, have no working buttons on the steering wheel.
i do believe the stereo amp to be faulty though. but i have no clue wheather or not it is tied into the steering wheel functions or horn. i'm probably going to take it to one of my commercial customer's shops. he has a BMW code reader, for under the hood. couldnt hurt, espeically if i can get it done for free. then maybe just hook him up with something in turn.
otherwise the car is running ok, still getting decent fuel mileage for how i drive it. still plenty of power from the engine.
i just wish i had an actual day off so i could tinker with the car. well i still dont know what i'm going to do completely. but i will indeed get things tested out before buying new parts. i really want that new battery though, its awesome and powerful.
doing a bit of reading. i should check into the BUS connectors. now that makes sense why things are going a bit haywire! i'll have to give everything a good look and cleaning.
Cleaned all of the large gauge wiring on the power distribution block in the trunk and also cleaned the connections on the alternator.
I also checked the wiring from te battery to the alternator. No excessive resistace was found.
Took the car out for a spirited drive and it did ok for the most part. But the was one instance when I slowed down that the trans safe came up on the dash, but imidiately went away.
I have Friday and Saturday off. Maybe it's time to just take it in to the dealer? Might go to that guys shop that has the BMW scanner and see what he finds instead.
Battery was good. Im lead to think of a few more things.
Slip ring, ignition switch, or ecu. Unfortuneately I haven any good ways of testing those. Looks likeits time for the euro garages around town to help me with this one.
well lets see. i called around today to the shops i know are capable of working on my E38.
the dealer will charge about $110 per hour
the next place i called is where my friends mom takes their VWs and Audi. they want $98 per hour
the last place i called mainly works on Mercedes Benz. namingly my friends dads S500 AMG and G500, also work on one of my church members cars. they want $85 per hour but would be next week before i can even get an appointment.
i think the second place will be where i take it first. i can get it in first thing this morning if i feel like it, i just dont know how many hours it takes to diagnose electronics, although they would have better tools and whatnot than i do. so they should move fairly quick.
oh i dont know, i really dont want to spend the money. but i also dont want to buy parts i dont need, thats why i want to get it figured out first more in depth.
guess ill see how today goes. cross my fingers for something resonable!!!
Well I was too tired today so taking it in didn't happen. Maybe for the best, the place I wanted to take it to told me next week was a good time. They are apparently busy with other German rides.
i finally had a day to take the car in. although they didnt fix anything yet, i was said to be a steering angle sensor. its combined with the slip ring apparently, so i have to go to the dealership for this fix. also the MAF meter needs replacement, again! i ought to see if they can give me some kind of warranty for a new one, its been less than 9 months ago when i bought a brand new one! i would have had a 2 year warranty if i had it installed at the dealership. but it would have been rediculous to pay labor for something that basically is clamped in. maybe i'll try cleaning it first. but it shows low voltage.
so anyway, i will be taking it into the dealership for a diagnosis just to make sure it is the steering angle sensor. dont want to buy the part and have it installed and it not be the actual problem. oh and it needs to be programed to the car also. for that, i'm looking right at $500 out the door.
yeah so i still havent had the stereo fixed. its damn annoying driving in silence. i'm convinced that the problem is partially due to a dead amp. but that does not explain the dead steering wheel controls. also about the same time my mass air meter started acting up. its kind of an on and off thing here lately. but who the hell knows. i would take it to the dealership, but i've been procrastinating about it and just havent made time. i'm just not particularly looking foward to shelling out the money, althought its just one of those things about owning a bmw i'll need to get used to.
i'm also contemplating the idea of installing a new navigation/stereo/hardrive system with a new screen. they way i see it is that its worth the money to just upgrade the system now and not waste money on an aging and outdated system that is stock to the car. dont know yet though, its been a thought that is bugging me for months now.
You never know about the amps in these cars. My seat was moving by itself while I was driving as if it was a ghost in my car. I unhooked the amp and it does not move anymore. I lost memory seats but heck, Im the only driver and I still have power seat ability!
yeah so i still havent had the stereo fixed. its damn annoying driving in silence. i'm convinced that the problem is partially due to a dead amp. but that does not explain the dead steering wheel controls. also about the same time my mass air meter started acting up. its kind of an on and off thing here lately. but who the hell knows. i would take it to the dealership, but i've been procrastinating about it and just havent made time. i'm just not particularly looking foward to shelling out the money, althought its just one of those things about owning a bmw i'll need to get used to.
i'm also contemplating the idea of installing a new navigation/stereo/hardrive system with a new screen. they way i see it is that its worth the money to just upgrade the system now and not waste money on an aging and outdated system that is stock to the car. dont know yet though, its been a thought that is bugging me for months now.
well four months later, and i've found my problem.
after having the stereo turn on a few times when it would become 40 degrees F outside, i thought about why it would do that. the only thing i could think of was a relay. other parts for instance, in the amp would not do this, i.e.: capacitors, diodes, resistors. they usually just go out and do not occasionally work.
today, i looked at the relays for my car at work. so i went to the trunk and with the key in and on, tapped on the relays. sure enough, the stereo started to work! i've taken a few pictures of the relay. it is in the line of relays right above the fuse box in the trunk. it is the first relay, a light green colored one. part # 6136-8373700. i was able to find it available from Borg Warner, i've actually ordered this particular relay before for other BMWs. it has other uses also and you can find others that are in different locations throughout the car.
Did the new relay solve ALL the problems? Batteries, relays, anything electric is annoying, and for some reason, seem to be connected to the craziest items that you would think are non-related. If the relay fixed any of the other problems, then the relay now becomes a place to troubleshoot up front, for far less cash it seems. Good job.
my steering wheel controls are still dead, so who knows if thats related. seems like it went out a few days after the stereo did though.
i do have a strange sound that the stereo picks up. might have something disconnected or not fully connected in the trunk from when i took things apart when it first happend. i'm going to go through and check that out tomorrow because my FM stations are very weak. could be something else though. i'll find out.
also, i might try replacing the relay that goes to my windshield washer pump as it works sometimes, then others doesnt. i've replaced the pump about a year ago. i can hear it click when its working, but when the pump doesnt oporate i can't hear the relay click on.
i'm thining about replacing all of the relays with new ones. maybe not though, that will add up fast.
I haven't read all of this version of War and Peace. Have you taken off the wheel and shroud and checked the connectors for being clean and secure? It seem the blindingly obvious place to start. Good find with the relay though.
Since I have the same problem i was thinking about the relay. However mine has 4 relays instead of 3. I looked up the number on the one you changed and it is the fuel pump relay. Kind of weird.
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